Genre and our work; hw

Charlie Hooper

Genre; homework

Genre was a useful concept to consider in relation to our work because it helped us to look up similar films on the Pearl and Dean website in order to discover what our target audience would be. This was an important marketing tool because people who like other films similar to our genre may be interested in our film; expanding the audience.

Genre in relation to our work:

This quote could be applied to our work as there was repetition following conventions and also a number of differences. Repetition could be seen in our stereotypical portrayal of characters; the bully's are teenagers who wear hoodies which can be seen as intimidating and related to youth crime. Also the use of trippy flashback scenes can be seen in many teasers of this genre.The differences can be found in our use of teenage actors in a psychological drama as normally these characters would be older and so our film appeals to a younger audience. Also we the use of social networking sites and blogs adds a new element to our film which is not normally a focus in this genre but again brings it back to a younger audience as many can relate or are aware of the issue of cyber-bullying.

Genre quote:

Setting:College: This enforces the idea that it is teenage bullying with the main character, Kyri, feeling excluded in his own head when he is surrounded by people- backing up the psychological genre. Alley: Dark lighting and small space showing that he is vulnerable and is a typical setting for crime and danger.

Characters:The main character is the victim as he is being bullied by other teenagers, his clothes are quite warn showing his character is not a person who cares much for his appearance. The bully’s wear hoodies making them intimidating and show that there is a dramatic conflict in the film. The girl suggests that the victim may have someone who cares about him.

Lacey's 'Repertoire of Elements:

Narrative: The teaser suggests that the main character is getting bullied by other teenagers which begins to damage his mind physiologically which is shown by the use of the trippy flashback scenes. The bullying is shown to not only be at college but continues when he gets home as seen by the shots of a social networking site, this introduces the issue of cyber bullying as another aspect of this film. The shot of the victim accidentally pushing his friend (the girl) suggests that he has pushed away everyone he cared about and that his mental state is deteriorating from his increasing paranoia.

Iconography: the use of social networks such as Facebook suggesting the issue of cyber bullying and the hoodies which covey teenager crime and intimidation.

Style: montage editing showing how bullying is affecting the psychological condition of the victim over a long period of time.

I think that genre has been a successful marketing tool for our film because it has allowed us to find a target audience and as a result helped us to choose which types of conventions to follow when creating our other media products. For example, because our target audience was a young audience we decided to follow similar conventions used in the Empire magazine covers when creating our own as the readers of Empire are similar to those we aimed to attract to watch our film.

To what extent do you feel genre has been used in the marketing of your film / how successfully do you think genre has been used in your teaser trailer in order to appeal to an audience?